


Walter always knows what to do, and other unfortunate truths

by rivkat



Category: Fringe
Genre: Eight crazy nights, F/M, forced to marry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-04
Updated: 2011-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-14 09:59:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/148054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivkat/pseuds/rivkat





	Walter always knows what to do, and other unfortunate truths

“You’ll go to jail if I testify,” Olivia said, as if Peter didn’t know that.

“You’ll go to jail if you _don’t_.” He could handle himself in jail if it came to that. It was so obvious that for Olivia to miss it was shocking. “Why are you so adamant about this? You tell the truth, and we’ll work it out just like you worked it out with me in the very beginning, when you still needed blackmail to keep me around.” He had no doubt that Broyles would be able to extract him, possibly on worse formal terms than his current deal with the FBI, but his day-to-day life was unlikely to change, given that he was already in Fringe Division for keeps.

“Peter,” she said, “there are forces in Washington I don’t know if we can control. Your father’s position with Massive Dynamic means power, but it also means enemies. If you’re taken away—”

Peter saw from the expression on Broyles’ face that this was something he’d just said to her, earlier, and that he wasn’t entirely thrilled that she’d decided to share his concerns with Peter. “The same goes for you, then.”

“ _I_ can’t build a doomsday device,” Olivia pointed out, with the tight control that suggested that she wanted to yell but wouldn’t let herself.

Peter smiled at her, just a little. “But you’re better leverage against me inside than locking me up could ever be.”

Olivia didn’t have much to say to that.

“I believe I have a solution,” Walter piped up.

They all turned. “Go on,” Peter prompted, because somebody had to.

Walter smiled and shuffled a little, the way he did when he was happy that people were listening to him. “In the 1970s, I was ordained as a minister. Very strange religion, actually. But never mind that. There is no waiting period in Connecticut, mere hours away, and, once married to Peter, you, Olivia, will be able to refuse to testify without penalty.”

“What?” Astrid said, because somebody had to.

“Actually—” Broyles began.

“Walter,” Peter interrupted before this could get sillier.

“No, Peter!” Walter wagged his finger, as if that would be convincing. “This is a good idea. It is legally impeccable. In a sense, you’ve already consummated the relationship—no grand jury is going to distinguish this Olivia from Fauxlivia—”

Peter turned away, hiding his face, while Astrid made the requisite sound of embarrassment.

“Would it work?” Olivia’s tone was as expressionless as her face.

“Let me make a few calls,” Broyles said.

“In the meantime, might I suggest that we decamp to Connecticut? It wouldn’t do to arrive after the clerk’s office had closed. I suggest New Haven. Despite the inferiority of the college, I have always had a fondness for the architecture. You could exchange vows in front of Maya Lin’s sculpture! And after that we could feed the pigeons.”

“Olivia—” Peter had no idea how that sentence ended. Actually, her name was the only word he wanted to say. He just didn’t know if she wanted to hear it.

“It’s all right,” Olivia said, and if the warmth in her tone was forced, no one was going to call her on it. “It wouldn’t necessarily mean anything.”

And Peter couldn’t say: that’s the problem; we already did that-- _I_ already did that, with the Olivia from the other side, and it’s screwed us up so bad I don’t know if we can get through it. “It’d mean something to me,” he said instead, soft and confessional, and Astrid and Broyles averted their eyes.

Olivia just stood there, cool and distant as the FBI agent who’d extorted his cooperation from him all those eternities ago. “All right, then,” she said, acknowledging Peter with a nod. She wasn’t denying how Peter felt, even if she wasn’t ready for anything else, and Peter loved her more than he’d thought possible, wondering if there was anything that she wasn’t strong enough to fight through, and if he’d ever get a chance to make it up to her. “Let’s not waste any more time.”


End file.
